Christian hitmakers combine their talents

Fans of Christian pop star Steven Curtis Chapman didn't have to wait long to find out how he and his family have been in the wake of personal tragedy.

Chapman, who lost his 5-year-old daughter in an accident earlier this year, put his loss at the center of his Saturday night set at the Roanoke Civic Center.

He and his fellow hitmaker, Michael W. Smith, opened their show with "Blessed Be Your Name," which Chapman described as "a truth that has been an anchor for my family and I" since Maria Chapman died in May after a car one of her brothers was driving struck her in the family's driveway.

"Lord, help us to believe this when we sing it," Chapman said before singing the lines, "You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say, blessed be your name."

Judging by the cheers from the crowd of 1,926, fans were glad to hear that Chapman's faith has stayed strong.

Not that it's been easy, he said. He had to make sure he still believed in the songs before he could take them in front of audiences, he said.

Chapman and Smith, both veterans of two decades in the Christian music business, are touring together for the first time. Each played a set of more than an hour and joined each other onstage. Chapman sang part of Smith's crossover hit, "Place in this World," while Smith sang Chapman's "The Great Adventure." They also joked about the mullet haircuts they sported in the late 1980s.

The music was mostly easy listening and not particularly adventurous, but audience members loved it, often raising one or both hands toward the sky.

Smith, introducing his song "This is Your Time," told the tale of Cassie Bernall, one of the victims of the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. One of the two shooters asked Bernall if she believed in God, Smith said -- Bernall said yes, "and that kid pulled the trigger." But the Rocky Mountain News and other sources have reported that Bernall was not involved such an exchange.

Either way, such lyrics as "It was a test we could all hope to pass, but none of us would want to take," were apt for a crowd that obviously shared the faith of Smith and Chapman.

The civic center used a curtain and tarps to reduce capacity to about 2,000, and empty seats remained.

Christian Music News Source